Tottenham Transfer News: Rafael Van Der Vaart Leaves Spurs for £10M

The revolving door at White Hart Lane is still spinning and it's Rafael van der Vaart who's the latest to go through it.

According to reports coming out of ESPN, the Dutch midfielder is on his way to former club Hamburg to reclaim his old No. 23 shirt after the clubs agreed on a £10.3 million fee for the former Tottenham midfielder.

The Daily Mail is reporting that Van der Vaart was such a crowd favorite in his first spell at Hamburg, from 2005 to 2008, that the club refused to give it anyone else in the hope he would return.

Now everyone's happy in Hamburg as the 29-year-old is hours away from signing a three-year contract with the Bundesliga club.

For a little over a week, rumors had been surfacing that a deal between Tottenham and Hamburg was imminent. Hamburg's original bid of £8 million fell way short of Tottenham's £14 million valuation of Van der Vaart.

In the end, it came down to whether or not billionaire Klaus-Michael Kuehne would be willing to front the cash for Hamburg to get its attacking midfielder back. Kuehne agreed to loan his local club the £10.3 million they needed and a contract was drawn up early Friday morning.

"I spent three years living in Hamburg and had a wonderful time at HSV," Van der Vaart said. "My wife Sylvie works there and we have many friends who live in your country [Germany]."

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With the signing of Gylfi Sigurdsson this summer, Van der Vaart's place on the team was immediately put into question. Sigurdsson offers exactly what Van der Vaart does at attacking midfielder, with his pinpoint passes and ability to make runs at goal.

The Dutchman became expendable and with new manager Andre Villas-Boas looking for all the cash he can get to strengthen his roster, it was only a matter of time until Van der Vaart was offloaded.

Graduating from Ajax's youth system, Van der Vaart earned his first professional appearance with the Amsterdam-based club back in 1999—a 1-1 draw with FC Den Bosch.

Since then, he's developed into one of the world's most versatile midfielders, able to play anywhere on the pitch, and a superb set-piece taker. He's scored 150 goals in his career with Ajax, Hamburg, Real Madrid and Tottenham, with 28 of them coming while he was in a Spurs uniform.